Grothman won a third term to the House of Representatives by defeating Kohl, who raised $1 million more, but was campaigning for a seat in a district that’s been a Republican stronghold for decades.

The district includes River Hills, Mequon, Thiensville, Grafton and Cedarburg in metropolitan Milwaukee and stretches north as far as Manitowoc and west to the Wisconsin River.

Grothman, 63, is from Glenbeulah in Sheboygan County and Kohl, 53, is from Mequon.

The election drew attention as a potential pickup for Democrats this year. Still, independent political newsletters have consistently predicted a Grothman win because the district has been reliably Republican since the 1960s.

“He has those connections in Washington,” Grothman said in August during a stop in Grafton. “It’s kind of odd that I am the incumbent and he has the Washington connections.”

Kohl has raised money for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and served nearly four years as vice president of political affairs at J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group in Washington, D.C. Before moving to Washington, Kohl worked for the Milwaukee Bucks when Herb Kohl owned the team.

Grothman painted Kohl as a liberal Democrat while Kohl emphasized he would be a bridge-builder in Congress. Kohl said Republican policies have favored the wealthy and that the working class has largely missed out on the economic boom.

Like many Democrats in 2018, Kohl attacked Grothman for opposing the Affordable Care Act and criticized Republican efforts to replace Obamacare with measures that would leave some people vulnerable to losing coverage for pre-existing health conditions.

Grothman, who said he favored covering pre-existing conditions, portrayed Kohl as a supporter of a Sen. Bernie Sanders-style government takeover of health care, which Kohl denied.

Kohl did not make President Donald Trump an issue in the race. Grothman said he supported most of the president’s policies, including last year’s GOP tax cut, which he said would mean more money in people’s paychecks in 2018.

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